Pokemon: Darkness Rising
by TestSubjectPinkamena
Summary: Join Dandelion Buckthorn as she journeys through the Sinnoh region and battles more than just an evil team. Rated T for language
1. Chapter 1

"Dandi! Come on! You don't want the professor to give away all the Pokemon, do you?" my brother yelled from downstairs.

I grumbled as I dragged my feet down the stairs, the smell of burned bacon hitting my nostrils. Mom never could cook well. As I got to the bottom, I saw my brother smirking at me, munching on some toast.

"Must you nag me when I'm this tired, Fern? I had trouble sleeping." I said as Mom placed my plate in front of me.

"Why? You're not nervous about a little Pokemon, are you?" Fern responded, clearly making fun of me.

"No," I snapped. "I was just so excited that I couldn't sleep. You were when you got you're first Pokemon."

"True, but it didn't deprive me of sleep."

"Don't worry honey," Mom smiled at me. "Just eat your breakfast, then we'll go over to the lab. Oh, I'm so proud of you!"

"Mom! I'm not a little kid anymore. You don't have to walk me to the lab like a child."

Eventually, I forced down Mom's rubbery eggs and extra extra crispy bacon and Fern and I made our way to Sandgem Town. It was a little embarrassing having to have my brother leading me through the tall grass, but that would soon be something I wouldn't have to worry about.

Sandgem Town was farther than I'd expected. We ran into practically a million Starley and even more Bidoof. By the time we got to the lab, I was about ready to strangle someone. Thank Arceus Fern didn't make any comments until-

"Good thing we didn't panic, huh?" Fern joked.

"Fern, I swear to Arceus-"

I was cut short by a voice calling us inside the lab. "Ah, you must be Dandelion. Come in! Come in!" the voice said.

As we looked up we saw a stern looking man with a bushy, white mustache. Professor Rowan, naturally.

Fern smiled and began walking up to the door saying, "Hello, Professor! It's been a while hasn't it? How are you?"

The professor looked confused for a moment. "And…you are…?"

"Professor! It's me, Fern Buckthorn! Don't you remember?" Fern looked genuinely hurt. I decided to chime in.

"Aaron Buckthorn's son? We moved here from the Hoenn Region?"

I could see the realization in his eyes. "Ah yes, now I remember. You were the trouble-maker. Never could keep your mouth shut."

Fern's face flushed as we stepped into the lab. It felt good to have him knocked down a peg for once. Inside, lab aides were scrambling around working various pieces of machinery. Towards the back there was a tall, pale-faced girl tapping her foot, an impatient look on her face.

"You kept me waiting, Grandad." she said, tossing her platinum-blonde hair to the side. Then she set her eyes on me and said a little too loudly, "Nice hair. You dye it yourself?"

I blushed. I hated it when people talked about my hair. It had a spring-green color that I got from my dad. The kids back in Hoenn would make fun of me for it.

"No, it's…naturally this color." I groaned through my teeth. I really didn't want to talk about this right now.

"Oh, well it's an...uh…interesting color." she responded.

The professor spoke up then.

"Gemelle, this is Dandelion. She's also getting her first pokemon today." He chuckled. "I guess you two can be rivals if you want."

Gemelle, as her name was apparently, looked like she was holding back a laugh. "That sounds like a hippie name." she said just loud enough so I could hear her.

I was fuming, but the professor didn't seem to hear her. Fern however, had heard her just fine.

"Do you have a problem with hippie names?" he asked, a challenging look in his eyes. Fern could be really scary when he wanted to be.

Gemelle gave a hearty "Hmph" and turned away, before making one final comment.

"Shame, he's cute too."

The professor beckoned us over to a table in the back of the room. On it were two pokeballs resting diagonally from each other.

"I apologize our third trainer isn't here. He had to get his pokemon early for good reason, I assure you." he motioned to the empty space where a third pokeball should have been.

"It's alright, Professor. We understand." I assured him, although Gemelle was rolling her eyes.

The professor nodded and picked up the two pokeballs. He said simply "I must warn you, these are very rare variants, so please take good care of them."

He pressed the buttons on the pokeballs and out came a fluffy, normal-type pokemon and a not-so-fluffy fighting-type pokemon. But, something was off.

"They're…the wrong color." I noted, confused.

Gemelle rolled her eyes again. That was really starting to get annoying.

The professor nodded. "These are what's called 'Shiny Pokemon'. They are extremely rare and hard to come by. I had a breeder in Solaceon Town get me these. Cost me a fortune, it did!"

He turned to the pokemon. "This is Buneary, the rabbit pokemon, and Riolu, the emanation pokemon. They are the two I have left." He then turned to Gemelle. "I'm going to let Dandelion pick fir-" But she was already picking up a squirming Riolu and returning it to its pokeball.

"Hmm. I guess you're getting Buneary then..." the professor commented irritably.

"Fine by me." I huffed. "It's not like I wanted Riolu, anyway!"

Gemelle snickered. "I hope you like Frustration. Buneary starts with the lowest friendship of any pokemon ever!"

It was then that I noticed the Buneary scowling at me. It crossed its arms and turned away. Great.

After dragging my pokemon out of the lab, Fern said his goodbye (after I insisted at least ten times that I was fine and he didn't need to baby me) and flew off on his Staraptor. Gemelle strided off in the direction of Jubilife City, and I could swear I heard her throwing a raspberry my way. How mature.

I looked down at the Buneary, who still looked less than thrilled to be my partner. I had the perfect name for her.

"Roses are thorny despite being pretty, so I think I'll call you Rose."

Rose looked up at me, as if to say, "Do I really have to go with her?"

"Well, Rose, let's start our adventure!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Get in the stupid pokeball!" I yelled, throwing yet another one at the Shinx I was trying to catch.

As Rose refused to fight for me, I was stuck having to catch a pokemon that would actually listen to me. Unfortunately, that also meant trying to catch pokemon at full health. Not fun.

From behind me, I could hear Rose snickering constantly. I turned to her and said, "Why not cut me some slack? This is harder than it looks!" That only seemed to make her laugh even harder and make me more furious. This was getting frustrating.

"You could help me, you kn-" I began to say, but was cut off by the sound of the grass rustling. Something was running toward us.

It jumped out of the bushes and rammed into Rose-which seemed to really get her riled up-and now I could see it as clear as day. I could see that it was, in fact, a Bidoof. One that looked a bit worse for wear.

Rose immediately went berserk and started Pounding the Bidoof into submission. She was beating it to a pulp, but something seemed off. The Bidoof wasn't fighting back, but why?

"Rose! Stop! It's injured!" I called, but to no avail. She didn't seem to hear me. That was it.

I got between them and blocked Rose's attacks with my body. It hurt, yes, but once I saw the pokemon's condition that was the least of my worries.

Its left eye was black and swollen. It had bruises, probably from Rose's punches, all over its body. Its fur was matted and even missing in some places, but what really made me sick to my stomach was all the bloody gashes. Had a wild pokemon attacked it?

I didn't have time to think about it. I scooped the pokemon up and began running towards the next town, not even looking to see if Rose was following me. I had to get the Bidoof to a Pokemon Center, and fast.

The Jubilife City pokemon center was extremely crowded and people kept glaring at me for trying to push through. By the time I got to the front, the Bidoof was unconscious in my arms.

"Please, this pokemon needs help! It's going to die if we don't do something!" I pleaded.

"Chansey! We need to get this Bidoof into intensive care, stat!" the nurse called, and a Chansey immediately came, took the Bidoof out of my arms and placed it on a stretcher. It then was wheeled through the double doors into emergency care.

"Why don't you come back later? This could take a while." the nurse suggested, patting me on the back.

"But-" I began to protest.

"Don't worry," she said. "Your pokemon is in good hands. Besides," She looked over at the crowd of people. "You're holding up the line."

I blushed and headed for the door. Somehow, Rose was waiting for me there. She was staring up at me in disbelief.

"What? I couldn't just let you beat it to a pulp!"

She simply turned and motioned to a building across the street. "Jubilife Java" the sign said.

"What, you want a cup of coffee?" I asked, confused. Rose ran across and pointed to a poster that mentioned Pokemon food.

I sighed. "You're hungry, huh? I guess I could go for some tea…"

The cafe was packed, but we eventually found a seat. The food, which Rose was now scarfing down, was apparently made from berries. As for myself, I opted for a sandwich and a strawberry lemonade.

"Geez," I said, looking down at Rose, "Didn't the professor ever feed you?"

After she finished she started climbing on my lap. Did she suddenly like me? No, that couldn't be right. Why would she?

Before I could think about it anymore a girl walked up to our table, a huge smile on her face.

She turned to me and said, her smile growing, "Can I pet your pokemon? It's so cute!"

I looked her over a moment, saying "Sure, but...who are you?"

She looked confused for a moment, then laughed, her hand colliding with her forehead.

"Sorry, I do that all the time. My name's Lisa. I came from the Johto region to try out contests and I can't resist cute pokemon!" She was smothering Rose in cuddles which Rose was really enjoying.

"It's…uh…nice to meet you, Lisa. I'm Dandelion. This is Rose. I like your hair."

It was true. She had beautiful, chocolate-brown hair with a red ribbon tying it into a ponytail. But her hair was nothing compared to her lovely, warm blue eyes. They practically screamed "We'll be friends forever!"

Lisa smiled at the compliment. "Thank you! Your hair's nice too. Spring green is such a pretty color!"

"You think my hair's nice?" I asked. "I hate my hair color."

"Hmm…" Lisa pursed her lips, then, as if a light bulb had gone off in her head, she started rummaging through her bag and chirped, "Bring your head over here, dear."

I could feel her messing with my hair and before long she handed me a hand mirror from her bag. I gasped at what I saw. My hair was now being held in pigtails with beautiful, blue ribbons!

"There! I think this shade of blue compliments your hair quite well. What do you think?"

I was at a loss for words. "I…I love it! Thank you so much!"

Lisa winked. "No problem. I do have something to ask in return, though."

"Y-yes?"

"I would assume you're on a journey, correct? I'm looking for someone to travel with, someone who can protect me from any hooligans who might try to take advantage of me. Would you be up for that?"

I smiled. "Are you kidding? Of course I'll let you come with me! Right, Rose?" Rose nodded in agreement.

"It's settled then. Lisa and Dandi, BFFs!" Lisa said.

"I wouldn't go there just yet…" I laughed.

We finished our lunch, chatting and watching the news on the TV on the wall. Another attack on the resort area, but I hardly noticed. I was way too happy to let that get me down.


End file.
